Monash University researchers have found how obesity leads to type 2 diabetes – a finding that could lead to the design of a drug to prevent the disease. Though obesity is associated as a leading cause of diabetes, no one has understood the exact mechanism of how obesity inhibits the body’s ability to use insulin leading to type 2 diabetes until now.
Now, the research team, led by Associate Professor Matthew Watt, discovered that fat cells release a novel protein called PEDF (pigment epithelium-derived factor), which triggers a chain of events and interactions that lead to development of Type 2 diabetes.
"When PEDF is released into the bloodstream, it causes the muscle and liver to become desensitised to insulin. The pancreas then produces more insulin to counteract these negative effects," Watt said.
“This insulin release causes the pancreas to become overworked, eventually slowing or stopping insulin release from the pancreas, leading to Type 2 diabetes.
"It appears that the more fat tissue a person has the less sensitive they become to insulin. Therefore a greater amount of insulin is required to maintain the body`s regulation of blood-glucose.
"Our research was able to show that increasing PEDF not only causes Type 2 diabetes like complications but that blocking PEDF reverses these effects. The body again returned to being insulin-sensitive and therefore did not need excess insulin to remain regulated," Watt added.
The findings were published today in respected journal Cell Metabolism.
